Texas A&M University closes women’s and gender studies

Texas A&M University will close its women’s and gender studies program, effective immediately, to comply with a new system board of trustees policy that limits discussion of “racial or gender ideology” on campus.

“[As] “As part of the broader implementation of recently updated system policies, we have made the difficult decision to begin phasing out women’s and gender studies academic programs, including the BA, BS, graduate certificate and minor,” Texas A&M Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Alan Sams wrote in a letter to faculty and staff on Friday, according to a copy posted by KBTX, a local television news station in College Station, Texas. Enrollment over the past few years. “

But free speech advocates and Texas A&M faculty condemned the move, saying it was the result of an opaque process and another threat to academic freedom.

“Women’s and gender studies at Texas A&M University have served generations of agricultural workers and advanced the institution’s core values ​​throughout its history,” the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors wrote in a public statement. “The AAUP remains firmly opposed to Interim Chancellor Williams’ draconian decision that threatens the entire university community by devaluing student degrees, undermining faculty governance, and lowering its institutional reputation.”

Texas A&M first began offering women’s and gender studies courses in 1979 as the discipline grew nationally. Such courses are still relevant nearly 50 years later, according to the teachers who lead the program.

“The project serves the university at a particularly critical moment in its history, bringing a long history of multidisciplinary research, curriculum, pedagogy and educational infrastructure to an institution that was only recently founded and under new leadership that recognizes the urgent need to work across disciplinary boundaries to address the problems and opportunities of twenty-first century communities, cultures and societies,” the project’s website states.

“Furthermore, at a time of intense debate across cultural, social and political differences, Women’s and Gender Studies remains a well-informed and established knowledge base dedicated to the forefront of cultural and social research to address disparities within communities.”

There are currently 25 majors and 31 minors enrolled in the program, according to an email sent to women’s and gender studies faculty by Cynthia Werner, senior executive associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. While instructional plans are in place to allow on-campus students to complete a degree or program — meaning the university will still offer some courses in the subject for up to six semesters — “effective immediately, students will not be able to register for these course options,” Werner wrote.

The announcement came after faculty and administrators reviewed 5,400 course syllabuses “to ensure compliance with system policies,” Sams wrote. This resulted in the elimination of six courses that did not comply with the new system’s policies, although “in most cases, courses were confirmed or adjusted within departments and did not require further review.”

Although Sams did not specify which six courses were canceled, earlier this month the university asked faculty to remove course content related to topics such as feminism, queer film and even the ancient Western philosopher Plato. At least one sociology course, “Introduction to Race and Ethnicity,” was canceled before the start of the semester.

“From banning Plato from the classroom, to stripping material related to race and gender from the syllabus, and now ending a full-fledged interdisciplinary program, TAMU is establishing itself as the center of national scrutiny of higher education,” Amy Reed, program director of PEN America’s Free Learning Initiative, said in a statement. “Forcing faculty to limit what they teach censors the knowledge students can acquire, paving the way for the American public university system to become a mouthpiece of the government. Limiting what can be taught in college classrooms is not education, it is ideological control.”

Texas is not the only state that is reviewing curriculum and closing academic programs to limit discussions about race, gender, sexuality and other controversial topics on college campuses.

In 2023, trustees at New College in Florida, including several appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a frequent critic of higher education, voted to end the university’s gender studies program. Across the state, faculty at Florida colleges have also been undergoing syllabus reviews to ensure compliance with laws aimed at aligning college teaching with conservative ideology and views.